Good dentistry may have saved the dinosaurs

Faculty of 1000: Biology and Medicine ^ | Dec 14, 2009 | Unknown

[decimon]

Infectious diseases can be transmitted by sneezing, touching, or – for Tasmanian devils – biting each other on the face, a habit that may have driven the dinosaurs to extinction through the transmission of a protozoan parasite.

Jacqueline Upcroft, a member of f1000 Biology, highlights the 'paleobiological detective work' of David Varricchio and colleagues published in PLoS One. This led them to deduce that a protozoan parasite was to blame for the diseased jaw bones seen in many tyrannosaurid fossils.

The parasite's modern-day equivalent, which infects birds, eats away at the jawbone and can cause ulcers so severe that the host starves to death. Living in the jaw, the parasite may have been passed from one dinosaur to another during head biting.

Upcroft said, "this organism commonly infects doves, pigeons, turkeys and raptors, causing necrotic ulceration in the upper digestive tract," and in extreme cases it can fully penetrate the bone.

The similarity of the fossilized jawbones and modern-day samples suggests that the parasite was deadly enough to kill infected dinosaurs. Furthermore, as Upcroft notes, "this may not have been an isolated situation but may have occurred en masse and led to the extinction of the species."

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Notes to editors

1. Jacqueline Upcroft is Senior Research Fellow, Molecular Parasitology Unit at Queensland Institute of Medical Research http://f1000biology.com/about/biography/1925684662306082

2. The full text of the evaluation can be viewed free for 90 days at http://www.f1000biology.com/article/zhw2gj8ggr2zxv9/id/1166623

3. The original paper, Common Avian Infection Plagued the Tyrant Dinosaurs, by Wolff et al., is free to view at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007288

4. Please name Faculty of 1000 in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the website.

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[decimon]

Extinction bites ping.

[dfwgator]

Dinosaurs were British? Who knew?

[bolobaby]

Or, according to GodGunsGuts, life preservers.

;-)

[Paratrooper]

What I would like to know is how many of our tax dollars went to research this stupid as hell project.

[martin_fierro]

[hellbender]

They say a related parasite infects birds, but birds aren’t going extinct from it. Dinosaurs were around for millions of years, then rather suddenly all went extinct, except for their descendants, the birds. What is the age range of the infected fossil bones? Was the parasite around for a long time before the dinosaurs died out? This argument doesn’t have teeth.

[presently no screen name]

This argument doesn’t have teeth.

LOL! That alone made coming to this thread worth wile! Thanks.

[decimon]

This argument doesn’t have teeth.

It's not incisive?

[hellbender]

Or decisive.

[decimon]

If cuspids are bi then which way do molars go?

[US Navy Vet]

Being able to breathe underwater for the better part of a year 4,000 years ago could have helped too.

[hellbender]

I think they masticate a lot.

[Verginius Rufus]

So it's the fault of dentists that dinosaurs went extinct.

I don't blame them...after word got out that tyrannosaurs tended to eat dentists, no dentists wanted to operate on them. Usual story--a few bad apples spoil it for everyone else, even the gentle, well-behaved dinosaurs. If they'd all been like Barney, they'd still be around.

[decimon]

...after word got out that tyrannosaurs tended to eat dentists...

Half of the dentists I've had would deserve that.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks decimon. biting each other on the face, a habit that may have driven the dinosaurs to extinction through the transmission of a protozoan parasite Not to mention, mono. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[SunkenCiv]

You’ve all been very bad today. :’D ;’D ;’)

[BIGLOOK]

Thanks for the Target Rich thread.....

[Hegemony Cricket]

Tyrannosaurus Rex had a head four feet long
And that made it hard to buy a toupee.
His teeth were seven inches long
And he had teeny little arms
And that made it hard to brush everyday...

~ Heywood Banks